This is how Israelis treat Jewish Anti-Zionists (there was another case where they beat up a American Jewish teen, Lucas Koerner, and threw him in jail[10][11][12]). Can you imagine how badly they treat gentile Anti-Zionists?

2004 speaking tour and controversy

Epstein spoke about the situation in the occupied territories in Palestine as well as spoke about her own life and experiences to audiences in the USA. Prior to a talk at Stanford University on October 20, 2004, fliers promoting her presentation "juxtaposed an image of Jews in Nazi Germany with an image of Palestinians at Israeli checkpoints", as the The Stanford Daily described. After members of Stanford's Jewish community gave a furious reaction, event organizers stated that no "direct comparison" was intended by the posters and Epstein also would not speak such comparisons. Then during her speech, Epstein kept her word and avoided comparisons between National Socialists and Israelis. She spent little time discussing her background in the Third Reich. However, throughout the speech, audience members, most associated with off-campus Zionist Jew organizations, interrupted her talk with shouts of outrage (probably like "Oy vey, that's hate speech! Shut it down!") and extra campus security quickly moved in.[13]

Reactions to the talk were sharply divided. Adina Danzig, president of Stanford's Hillel organization called the lecture "an abuse of history" and hoped that "this event and the isolated interruptions by a few individuals were an aberration." While acknowledging Epstein's general statement about avoiding comparison, Danzig stated that the "disclaimer did not undo the damage" and that "[Epstein] made several remarks drawing the [Israeli–Third Reich] parallel".[14]

Nathan Mintz, vice-president of the Stanford Israel Alliance, condemned "Epstein's rhetoric of drawing comparisons of the initial stages of the Holocaust to the current situation in Gaza and the West Bank" as "outright demonization of Jews" representing "only one piece of what is a much larger trend of anti-Semitism on college campuses today." He added that Epstein's ISM colleagues have "direct ties to terrorist organizations" and that the "atmosphere currently on campuses is not one in which a constructive dialogue about the conflict can legitimately take place."[15]

In contrast, a supporter of Epstein condemned these as "misrepresentations and false charges", citing off-campus activists who, "with the intention of disrupting the event", handed out fliers "demonizing" Epstein and "frequently yelled at and interrupted" her. "At one point, a man suddenly jumped up while Epstein was talking and recited what appeared to be a prepared statement informing her of pending legal actions against her." He asked why Mintz "failed to mention any of the egregious events" of this sort and "submitted his op-ed before actually seeing the event."[16]

In response to controversy over the paper's initial coverage of the story,[3] reader editor Jennifer Graham of The Stanford Daily acknowledged that "plenty – if not unfairly too much" coverage was given to the claims of Epstein's critics. She also apologized for the "wrong" and "misleading" decision to run Mintz's op-ed criticizing Epstein's speech before it had happened. She wrote, "There are claims, that I can neither confirm nor deny, that Mintz's column factually misrepresents the substance of Epstein's speech."[17]

Responding to Epstein's presentation, members of several campus Jewish organizations invited Zionist Harvard professor Ruth Wisse✡ to speak at Stanford. The Stanford Daily wrote on it, "While her audience ate Challah bread and drank champagne for the Kiddush, Wisse discussed the origins and effects of anti-Semitism. Her most pointed remarks related to the current political situation between Israel and the Palestinians."[18]

Wisse then spoke a bunch of lies in support of Israel and said Jews are completely blameless. "Of course the Palestinian people suffer--it is genuine, it is undeniable, they can’t advance; the Jews would love to cure that suffering, but it is not a problem that the Jews created, and it is not a problem that the Jews can solve. The Jews want to do anything to accommodate at any price, but this will not solve the problem. We can not afford to do this, it does not help." Wisse then blamed all the problems on the Arabs and Palestinians.[18]

Stanford student Ahmed Ashraf responded with an op-ed contrasting the Zionist "pro-Israelis outraged by Epstein's support for the Palestinians" to the "perfectly respectful" behavior of Arab and Muslim attendees to Wisse's talk, "even as the acidic torrent of hate rained down on them."[19]

The Anti-Defamation League, a jewish mafia group, made a report the next year that called Epstein's talk an "example of anti-Israel campus activism" which "would meet both the United States government's and [Israeli cabinet] Minister Nathan Sharansky✡'s definitions of anti-Semitism," for "comparing Nazi treatment of Jews to Israeli treatment of Palestinians."[20]

In 2008, the Missouri regional director for the Anti-Defamation League noted, "For someone like Hedy, who came out of the Jewish community at a very difficult time, to criticize Israel ... well, it's difficult. Some people perceive it as disloyal."[22]

Activism

In August 2008, Epstein planned to be on board the Free Gaza Movement's ship attempting to break Israel's naval "blockade" of Gaza, but had to cancel due to poor health.[4][23]

In 2010, she embarked on one of the ships that intended to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, but decided in Cyprus not to take part in the trip. She reportedly had also planned to take part in the 2011 flotilla but did not.[24] She was on board "The Audacity of Hope" ready to join the Freedom Flotilla II.[25] However, they were intercepted by the Greek Coast Guard and turned back.[26]

External links

Part of this article consists of modified text from Metapedia, page http:en.metapedia.org/wiki/Hedy Epstein and/or Wikipedia, page http:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy Epstein, and the article is therefore licensed under GFDL.